UNIT 5

ENVIRONMENTAL
POLLUTION
Mugdha Deshpande
WHAT IS POLLUTION?

Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials

into the environment. These harmful materials
are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural,
such as volcanic ash. They can also be created
by human activity, such as trash or runoff
produced by factories. Pollutants damage the
quality of air, water and land.

Pollution is the effect of undesirable changes in

our surroundings that have harmful effects on
plants, animals and human beings.
 CLASSIFICATION OF
POLLUTANTS
•Degradable or non-persistent pollutants: These can be
rapidly broken down by natural processes. Eg:
domestic sewage, discarded vegetables, etc.

•Slowly degradable or persistent pollutants: Pollutants

that remain in the environment for many years in an
unchanged condition and take decades or longer to
degrade. Eg: DDT and most plastics.

•Non-degradable pollutants: These cannot be degraded

by natural processes. Once they are released into the
environment they are difficult to eradicate and continue
to accumulate. Eg: toxic elements like lead or mercury.
 Water
Soil
Air

Chemical
Nuclear Types of
Pollution

Solid waste Noise

Thermal Marine
 ATMOSPHERE
Composition of atmosphere: Structure of the atmosphere:
79% Nitrogen, 20% oxygen, Troposphere
and 1% mixture of carbon Stratosphere
dioxide, water vapor and trace Mesosphere
amounts of several other Thermosphere
gases such as neon, helium,
methane, krypton, hydrogen, Only the lower Troposphere is
and xenon involved in our weather and
hence air pollution.
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION: •Man started using firewood as means of cooking
and heating; became an issue in the urban areas.

HISTORY •It was recognized as a problem 700 years ago in

London in the form of smoke pollution, which
prompted King Edward I to make the first
antipollution law to restrict people from using coal
for domestic heating in the year 1273.

•The earliest recorded major disaster was the

‘London Smog’ that occurred in 1952 that resulted
in more than 4000 deaths due to the accumulation
of air pollutants over the city for five days.

•Air pollution began to increase at the beginning of

the twentieth century with the development of
transportation systems and the large-scale use of
petrol and diesel.
 Types of pollutants:
1. Natural (such as
Air pollution
volcanoes release ash,
occurs due to
dust, sulphur, or forest
the presence of
fires) pollutants
undesirable
2. Human activity or
solid or gaseous
manmade pollutants
particles in the
naturally occurring
air in quantities
pollutants tend to
that are harmful
remain in the
to human health
atmosphere for a short
and the
time and do not lead to
environment.
permanent
atmospheric change
 •Pollutants from identifiable sources (also

AIR POLLUTION
called primary pollutants) are produced both
SOURCES OF by natural events and human activities

5 primary pollutants contribute to a maximum

percentage of air pollution carbon oxides
(CO2 and CO), nitrogen oxides, sulphur
oxides, volatile organic compounds (mostly
hydrocarbons) and suspended particulate
matter.

Pollutants produced in the atmosphere due to

the chemical reactions of primary pollutants
are called secondary pollutants. Example:
Sulphuric acid, nitric acid.
 20
MOST AIR -POLLUTED
CITIES IN THE WORLD
SMOG = SMOKE + FOG
The most well-known example is that of the ‘London
Smog’ that occurred in 1952. The city used large quantities
of sulphur-containing coal for domestic heating that
released smoke, along with smoke from thermal power
plants and other industrial establishments. This used to
lead to the generation of high levels of smoke containing
sulphur oxides. Due to sudden adverse meteorological
conditions, air pollutants like smoke and sulphur oxides
started to build up in the atmosphere. The white fog
accumulated over the city and turned black forming a ‘pea-
soup’ smog with almost zero visibility. Within two days of
the formation of this smog, people started suffering from
acute pulmonary disorders which caused irritation of the
bronchi, cough, nasal discharges, sore throat, vomiting,
and burning sensations in the eyes. This event leads to
several deaths.
ACID RAIN

When sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides

are transported by prevailing winds they
form secondary pollutants such as nitric
acid vapour, droplets of sulfuric acid and
particles of sulphate and nitrate salts.
These chemicals descend on the earth’s
surface in two forms: wet (as acidic rain,
snow, fog and cloud vapour) and dry (as
acidic particles). The resulting mixture is
called acid deposition, commonly called
acid rain.
 OZONE HOLE
•In 1985 that the large-scale destruction of the
ozone also called the Ozone Hole came into the
limelight when some British researchers
published measurements about the ozone layer

•CFCs (chloro-fluro-carbons) are the leading

cause of a decrease in the Ozone layer

•India signed the Montreal Protocol in 1992,

which aims to control the production and
consumption of Ozone Depleting Substances

•Ozone depletion has impacts on human health,

food production, materials, climate
Effects of air pollution on human body
 WATER
POLLUTION
 WATER
‘If the world’s water were
only 100 litres, our usable
supply of freshwater would
be only about 0.003 litres
(half a teaspoon).’
 WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution deals with the quality, or composition, of water
when it is changed directly or indirectly as a result of human
activities and is thus unfit for any purpose.
 SOURCES OF
WATER POLLUTION
STATUS OF WATER QUALITY AND
POLLUTION OF INDIA’S RIVERS
•Every river in India has its own share of problems.
•Sewage and municipal effluents account for 75% of the pollution
load in rivers while the remaining 25% is from industrial effluents
and non-point sources
•Ganga Action Plan (1985), the largest river clean-up operation in
the country
•In 1995, the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) was
launched.
•The biggest drawback of river cleaning programs was they failed
to allocate responsibility regarding who would pay for running the
treatment facilities in the long run.
 SOIL
POLLUTION
 Under ideal climatic
conditions, soft parent
material may develop into 1
cm of soil within 15 years.
Under certain climatic

SOIL
conditions, hard parent
Soil is a thin covering over the material may require
land consisting of a mixture of thousands of years to
minerals, organic material, develop into new soil.
living organisms, air and water,
that together support the growth
of plant life.
SOIL HORIZONS
 Index
Effects of soil
pollution
Importance of
soil
 NOISE
POLLUTION
 NOISE
Noise is a non-chemical pollutant that
affects humans and animals.
•What maybe sound to one person
could be noise to another!
•It is not a substance that can
accumulate in the environment like
most other pollutants.
CHEMICAL
POLLUTION
 CHEMICAL POLLUTION
When chemicals are released into our environment they disrupt the
balance of our ecosystems, threatening our health, polluting the air we
breathe, and contaminating our food and water.

Chemical pollution is because of the pollutants which are persistent

(i.e they remain in the ecosystem for a number of years).

Chemical pollutants affect the soil biota and also pollute the soil.
This makes the crops unfit for human and animal consumption
 SOURCES OF CHEMICALS
Chemicals are everywhere - in the food we eat, the air we breathe
and the products we use. Most chemicals are man -made and they
can fulfill a variety of functions. As such, they are used widely –
from agriculture and industrial processes to producing medicine and
household products. During manufacture, storage, transport and
disposal, chemicals can leak into the surrounding environment.
 EFFECTS ON HUMANS
Harmful chemicals can get into our bodies if we breathe them in,
eat them, drink them or are absorbed through our skin. Some of
the most harmful chemicals are “forever chemicals”, that get into
our bodies and environment and do not break down, and
“hormone-disrupting chemicals", that block, mimic or disrupt our
natural hormones with dire consequences.

For example, Bisphenol A (BPA) is an extremely harmful chemical

that has been used in the manufacture of plastic products such as
water bottles and food containers. It has been shown to cause
cancer and heart disease as well as impact fertility.
EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
Chemical pollution can affect the delicate balance of the Earth’s
ecosystems.
Mining, agriculture and waste disposal have caused substantial
soil pollution. The presence of heavy metals like cadmium,
mercury and lead can affect soil quality and reduce the number of
micro-organisms that support soil fertility.
The health of soil impacts biodiversity and the ability of
populations to produce food.
The ocean suffers from a high level of plastic and other chemical
pollution which has led to ‘dead zones’ – where the oxygen level
in the water cannot support life. High or prolonged exposure to
harmful chemicals has also impacted marine biodiversity
 BIOLOGICAL
CONCENTRATION
AND
BIOMAGNIFICATION
 BIOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION AND
BIOMAGNIFICATION
• A pollutant makes its entry into the food chain through the
producers
• The pollutants get accumulated in the cells and tissues of the
primary consumers when they feed on producers
• These pollutants are transferred into the bodies of primary
producers in addition to that directly absorbed by the environment
• The secondary consumers feed on the primary consumers and the
pollutants are thus transferred to the higher trophic levels
• Thus, when the pollutants move through the organisms of higher
trophic levels, the concentration of the pollutants increases in the
tissues of the organisms of higher trophic levels than in the
organisms with the lower trophic levels
• Hence, the residual retention of the pollutants is the highest at the
upper trophic level
• The pollutants get magnified at the higher levels of the food chain.
This type of magnification of the pollutants in a food chain,
mediated by biological agents is known as biological magnification
or biomagnification of pollutants in the ecosystem .
• This causes severe health issues in humans as man is at the
highest level of the food chain and has access to any trophic level
NUCLEAR HAZARDS
AND HUMAN HEALTH
RISKS
Nuclear energy is both beneficial and harmful
We routinely depend on X-rays, treat cancer with radiation and
diagnose diseases with the help of radioactive isotopes
But then we cannot also forget the disaster caused by nuclear
bombs in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of the atom, the
resulting is nuclear energy which is used for several purposes .
Several nuclear accidents have caused worldwide concern due
to the safety and disposal of nuclear waste
SOLID WASTE
• Unprecedented economic growth, population growth, and
consumerism has increased the generation of solid waste in the
recent years
• Disposal of solid waste is a major issue in most of the part of the
world
• Solid waste is littered on almost all the roads of the world
• Sometimes, the solid waste is burnt while sometimes it is lying
there on the road while sometimes it is dumped
• But landfill or incineration is not going to solve the issue of solid
waste
• Disposal of solid waste should be a part of the integrated waste
management plan
• The method of collection, transport, processing, resource recovery,
and final disposal should be achieved
• Solid waste is divided primarily into biodegradable and non-
biodegradable
• The solid waste consists of household waste, commercial waste,
industrial waste, institutional waste, construction and demolition
debris, sanitation residue, e-waste, agriculture, horticulture, dairy
waste and radioactive waste
• Municipal solid waste includes household and commercial waste
which are either in solid or semi-solid form, industrial waste and
hazardous wastes (manufacturing processes), biomedical wastes,
pharmaceutical waste
Vermicomposting is a natural
process whereby earthworms
convert waste material with
rigid structures into compost .
The compost produced in this
green process is traditionally
and popularly used as a
natural fertilizer for enhancing
plant growth.
Integrated solid waste
management refers to
the strategic approach
to sustainable
management of solid
wastes covering all
sources and all
aspects, covering
generation,
segregation, transfer,
sorting, treatment,
recovery and disposal
in an integrated
manner,
with an emphasis on
maximizing resource
use
efficiency.